Where the Noodles Are Translated

“Of course, of course we won’t say anything.” After confirming that they would have meat for dinner, the mother and son looked at each other and their eyes were filled with elation. They then returned to their own bed silently, showing that they were keeping their promise.

As the mother and son no longer disturbed them, Qing shui lightly pulled the back of Chang’s shirt and said, “come with me.”

Qing shui and Chang walked along the corridor and sat on the stairs. Chang was perplexed, “are you really going to give them our meat?”

“Did the acid burn your brain?” Qing shui looked at Chang.

“No.”

“It didn’t burn my mind either.” The expression in Qing shui’s eyes had changed; it conveyed a hint of resoluteness.

“You…” Looking into Qing shui’s bright eyes, Chang sat there in a brief numbed daze. Then, he seemed to understand Qing shui’s purpose, and he sighed heavily. “I see what you mean, so when?”

“At midnight; it’s easier to do it when everyone is asleep.”

“What about the military? What if they discover us?”

“I was concerned about this too. The military is very sensitive about conflicts in the base. They are afraid of riots and their negative impact, considering how contagious emotions can be.” As Qing shui spoke, he took out a self-made cigarette and lit it up; the fire on the tip flickered, “Although they are concerned about the impact, it’s also the only concern they have.”

“As for missing personnel… they won’t care about much.”

“Indeed.” Chang nodded.

“You need to do it neatly; it’ll be too easy with your skills.” Qing shui passed the cigarette to Chang and said, “Try it. I made it with leaves from a strange plant I saw a few days ago. It tastes pretty good and helps reduce pressure.”

Taking the cigarette, Chang inhaled deeply. It was fragrant and fruity as Qing shui described.

“You can do it, can’t you? And, this should be your first time killing someone that’s unable to defend themselves.” Qing shui stared at Chang, who was smoking non-stop. “It’s always stressful to kill someone, but we have no other choice in dealing with thugs and rascals.”

“These people will thank you for giving them food at first, but eventually they will become greedier. If one day we can’t get sufficient meat to feed all of us, they will break their promise easily. And why do we have to share our food with them anyways? You knew better than me what kind of sacrifice we had made; you almost died from kidney failure from the burns, while Jing and I almost got caught by the Willow. We exchange our life for this food, so why can they just sit in the room to wait for us to serve them? This isn’t just about the meat, but also lives of us three. I won’t share our meat with anyone. You can say I’m selfish, but if they didn’t contribute, they will never get a share either, at least not from me.”

“If they act like thugs, so be it. They should think about the consequence before being one!”

“I understand… thank you for your explanation. It’s brought me inner peace and it will be easier for me now. I understand what you mean.” The corner of Chang’s mouth curved into a wry smile. He finished the last bit of the cigarette and threw it on the floor before the flame caught his lips.

“Let’s talk about something else. I’ve heard about the Willow, but Jing is still too young to explain thoroughly/ I want to know more about it.”

“It’s a super life; I don’t know how to explain it well either. Its evolution speed is a lot faster than other species, and it’s very special.” Thinking of the Willow, Qing shui’s back bent unnaturally again, “It can control a human brain. It reads human memories and knowledge. It was even able to make connections among the brains and utilize each of their strengths, but it hadn’t been able to acquire intelligence of its own.”

“And thinking of humans, we have gone through numerous generations to become intelligent; within 20 days, it was plundered by other species. How sad is that! I really would like to know how many of these special species exist on this planet.” Chang felt depressed as he heard Qing shui’s comment. He took a deep breath and asked, “The world is huge and Kaifeng is merely a small city in Northern China. If a super life like the Willow was born here, I doubt that there will be anymore around here.”

“I’m not sure about this, but I can assure you that there won’t be many of these super lives.” Qing shui said, “We just happened to encounter one; the Willow is a rare example of an evolutionary miracle. Even though there might be other super lives, the ability of acquiring human brains is even rarer. If the Willow isn’t capable of thinking, it will just be a powerful and robust individual; in that case, we won’t even need to be concerned of its existence as it causes no harm to us.”

“It was a flawless coincidence; the Willow must be one of a kind.” Qing shui made a summary, “I am not sure about the presence of super lives in other places on Earth, but there won’t be anything like the Willow.”

“I disagree, it was only 20 days, and our landscape is unimaginably wide and our oceans are so deep that humans haven’t gotten to discover it all! How could you be sure that there aren’t any other similar ones? And even though there isn’t any right now, what about in the future? In this global evolution, everything is possible.” Chang stood up and pulled Qing shui up with him. “Shall we go back? It’s quite useless to think about it too much, especially since it’s not helping us right now, so we’ll just do whatever we’re capable of.”

“As for other problems, we’ll have to leave it up to destiny.”

“Of course, let fate have its way.” Qing shui patted on Chang’s back, and they walked along the dark corridor to their dorm room.

The thirst of the mother and son was obvious. They got up from the bed immediately as they saw Chang and Qing shui come back to the room.

“Let’s have dinner now, the meat won’t taste as good later.”

“Great, make yourselves comfortable then.” Qing shui snatched a glance at at the two, and then warned them expressionlessly, “Don’t forget about the promise you have made.”

“Are you seriously giving out our meat to them?” Pangzi impatiently asked as he noticed that Qing shui wasn’t going to change his mind. “We exchanged this meats with our life, so why would you do this?”

“Forget it; as long as we still live in this room, we need to maintain the harmony in here.” Chang patted on Pangzi’s shoulder as he tried to comfort him.

5 Comments

Rensarian

Thanks for the chapter.

I agree with this solution. I was too busy thinking about the options last chapter that I forgot to think outside of the box. Killing them and then erasing all evidence… is an exceptional solution. Ruthless, yes, but highly efficient.